Brian William Cooper has been charged for allegedly fleeing from police and smashing into a police vehicle in the process.
No one was seriously injured in the incident, but the threat of harm to the Mounties involved and the public on the road will be at issue in the court proceedings now underway.
The incident happened on Sunday at about 3:45 a.m. A Mountie pulled over a white pickup near the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 16 for a traffic infraction. It is now alleged by police that the truck sped off before the traffic check could be completed, and then the situation turned worse.
"While fleeing the area, the suspect rammed another police vehicle near Ferry Avenue and Ospika Boulevard," said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. "The suspect continued to attempt to evade police, until mechanical issues forced the driver and one other occupant to flee the vehicle on University Way near the University of Northern BC."
Douglass said that as soon as the pickup sped away, the original member on-scene radioed for backup. The police vehicle struck was one of the responding Mounties.
"It was not the police officer in the police car who initiated contact," said Douglass. "The police vehicle was stopped at the time, and the suspect did not negotiate around the vehicle. He had an out and he did not, for whatever reason still to be determined in court, manage to take it."
When Cooper and the other suspect allegedly fled the vehicle on foot, a police dog unit was called in. RCMP dog Azar located the two.
"Azar tracked both suspects in waist deep snow through a heavily wooded area near where the vehicle came to rest," Douglass said. "Both suspects suffered minor bite wounds. They were taken to hospital as a result of the dog bites, but that is RCMP policy. Anyone who is bitten by a police dog is taken to hospital for a precautionary examination."
No serious injuries resulted to anyone involved in the incident.
The as-yet unnamed passenger in the suspect vehicle was released without charges while Cooper has been held in custody with a next court appearance scheduled for Feb. 21.
